How the New V&A Museum Is Changing an Entire Scottish City

"It’s hard to miss the new V&A Dundee. At the entrance to the city, just over the Tay Road Bridge, the new ship-like design center seems to balance above the River Tay, propped up like a boat waiting to set sail. Designed by Japanese architect-of-the-moment Kengo Kuma (who's behind the Olympic stadium in Tokyo for the 2020 Summer Games), the $100 million museum is—like its sister branch in London, one of the world's largest (and most treasured) design museums—impressive as hell. Once the V&A opens its doors on September 15 after seven years in the works, it's expected to draw 350,000 visitors per year—which more than doubles the population of the entire city. The museum will have 200 permanent exhibits that showcase Scotland’s design history (largely taken from the V&A in London), along with its first major show, "Ocean Liners: Speed and Style," which takes a look at life on board the world’s greatest ocean liners, a nod to its boat-building past. Even after-hours, the gleaming angular building lights up like a Christmas tree. The expectation isn’t only that it will illuminate the waterfront area, but the entire city of Dundee."